It Was an Ending and a Beginning
by jorbor
Summary: Looking back, there was nothing they could have done. It was too quick, too sudden, and too hard to believe such a giant in their hearts and in Spiritual Pressure could fall like that. It was unfair, so unfair, but it wouldn't be the end.


It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all that the extraordinary boy who saved two worlds, inhabited by both the living and the dead countless times, should be cut down in such an unceremonious and heartless way.

It's true that he had an unbreakable support system behind him all the way. His friends. Every new battle brought him more friends. Some stayed, some had to leave, but their memory and actions lived on with him and those who knew what amazing things occured. This is fact, however, he nearly killed himself several times gaining more power to protect the ones he loved as well as people he had never met.

This was Ichigo Kurosaki, 17. This was the substitute soul reaper of Karakura Town, son of former captain Isshin Kurosaki of the 13 court guard squads. This was the boy, the man, who deserved a full life of hunting low-level hollows as payment for all he had done. Shikashi*, this was the man who never had the life that someone like him deserved. It was hard, it was bloody, it was full of sorrow and betrayal; and it was over in the flutter of a heart.

It was a Monday, the last Monday before the end of school and Ichigo's High School education. It was 8:00AM, and he was in the middle of class. Looking back, there was little he could have done; little anyone could have done, though it tortured his friends for years afterwards.

"Ichigo!" his teacher had called, startling him awake. It had been a long night. "Since you think you know this well enough to be able to take a nap in the middle of my lecture; why don't you come up to the board and write down all the important dates of World War Two."

Ichigo sighed and stood, dragging his sluggish mortal body to the front of the class. Unfortunately, this is what sealed his fate, his body. It was not the resilient body of his spirit, it was his very vulnerable human body; prone to harm.

Ichigo could only remember one important date from WWII, so he made up a few.

"Tisk tisks, Kurosaki-kun, this won't do. Only one of these dates makes any sense; Pearl Harbor, a bad decision and the start of dark times for Japan. I don't think the American's ever really forgot what happened there, even now. Their president said it himself. Anyhow, Ichigo, I hope you will pay a little more attention in the future, as. . . Are you okay?"

Ichigo, who was already starting to fall asleep again, standing, realized that she hadn't been talking to him. A boy he didn't recognize was turning red in the front row. Odd, Ichigo though, he knew everyone in the class, or so he believed, but he couldn't remember this boy's name. No one ever did.

It was a shame, they would later say, that this boy's father was one of few who kept a gun available at home. Citizens carrying fire arms were almost unheard of, but the boy's father was of the paranoid sort.

The boy looked into his teacher's face, rage contorting his vision. She forgot him all year, but noticed him NOW? He glanced at Ichigo and saw red. The stupid boy who skipped school so often, it was a miracle he was even graduating, got so much more attention that the boy with straight A's and who was never a problem.

The boy didn't realize that this was precisely the reason he was basically nonexistent in the class. All he saw was his own anger and sense of injustice.

So he exploded.

It happened in the flutter of a heartbeat. The nameless boy pulled out the gun he was hiding in his school jacket, and shot; first Ichigo, then their teacher. He had excellent aim. Their teacher died instantly, but his hand had shaken just slightly when he went for the first kill, and had missed his heart.

Chaos reigned, and the boy shot himself.

Orihime-san ran to Ichigo as fast as her reactions would allow, but she was only there in time to hear the last words his mortal mouth would speak. "Otosan? . . . . No, I knew I couldn't live like that, anyway. . . . Inoue? Favor, tell Yuzu and Karin bye for me."

And he was gone; there hadn't even been enough time to erect her shield. That didn't stop her from trying, but he didn't come back.

Soul Society, which had kept close tabs on Ichigo, dispatched a Soul Reaper to bring him home.

I'd love to hear what you think! So tell me. Personally, the ending felt a little abrupt, but when I added more, it felt like it was dragging.

**Anyhow, thanks for reading!**

***Shikashi: but or however in Japanese. **


End file.
